Berkley court to merge with Royal Oak

The boundary for 44th District Court, Royal Oak, will be expanded in 2015 to take in the city of Berkley, which is now served by the 45A District Court.

Berkley was supposed to merge with the 45B District Court, Oak Park, under the original cost-saving consolidation plan recommended by the State Court Administrative Office (SCAO).

However, as the facilities and logistics were given a more serious look, local and state officials decided it would be best for Royal Oak to take in Berkley, State Sen. John Pappageorge (R-Troy) said.

Pappageorge and State Sen. Vincent Gregory (D-Southfield) sponsored the amended SB 1351, which passed during the lame duck session a few weeks ago and is awaiting the governor’s signature.

Although the pending law changes the court boundaries in two years, cases will still be handled by two judges in Royal Oak and one judge in Berkley in the existing court buildings, probably until 2020. That’s when 44th District Court Judge Terrence Brennan is expected to retire and his position will be eliminated by attrition.

At that time, the Berkley judge will move to the Royal Oak courthouse and two judges will serve both cities.

Pappageorge said the physical and financial shape of the 45B District Court was a major consideration in not moving Berkley cases there. The aged and cramped court has two judges serving Huntington Woods, Pleasant Ridge and Royal Oak Township in addition to Oak Park.

“The (original) bill was drawn up by somebody on the other side of the state that isn’t so familiar with this area,” Pappageorge said. “As I dug into it and talked to everyone involved, a consensus was reached that it made more sense to move Berkley to Royal Oak. For one thing, if you look at the Royal Oak court, its brand new compared to most courts. The facilities are better and that had a lot to do with it.”

The caseloads also are a good fit, the senator said.

“The workload in Berkley’s court is for 0.3 judges. It doesn’t take a full judge to handle the Berkley court,” Pappageorge said. “Royal Oak is around 1.7 or 1.8 and Oak Park is at 1.8 or 1.9. It just makes sense to move the 0.3 court to Royal Oak.”

Recently retired Royal Oak judge Daniel Sawicki disagrees. He said he was unpleasantly surprised to learn Berkley will consolidate with Royal Oak instead of Oak Park.

“It was disappointing to say the least because I think it was an inappropriate move,” Sawicki said. “I was here when 45A and 45B were created. Oak Park and Berkley were always intended to become one district. Then, they turned around and for whatever reason decided we should be joined by Berkley.”

Sawicki said he expects the 44th District Court will get busier before it physically merges with Berkley thanks to the passage of a public safety millage in Royal Oak last November. Voters approved a tax that will give the city another 13 police officers, two detectives and bring back an undercover unit. Sawicki sees more traffic tickets being issued – and fought – and the number of drunken driving and retail fraud cases going up in Royal Oak.

“I think it’s a bad piece of legislation because Royal Oak will need two judges,” said Sawicki, who retired Tuesday. “I’m not going to talk about Berkley. I haven’t been in their court. I don’t know the new judge but the intent was always to have Berkley join Oak Park.”

Pappageorge said Sawicki raises a valid concern about the need to monitor caseloads.

“I can’t fault him for saying we’d rather not lose a judge and he makes a good point,” Pappageorge said. “But the requirement is to lose a judge. The change (from the original plan) came from a simple let’s wait a minute and get everyone together and ask them what is the best way to do it. Everyone agrees it came out as well as it could.”

If the Royal Oak docket does increase significantly, the pending law might need to be changed again, Pappageorge said.

“Between now and 2020 that’s the kind of detail we have to go into,” he said. “The idea that we have done something chiseled in stone is false.”

The SCAO recommended cutting 45 judge posts throughout Michigan in upcoming years due to decreased workload. The plan is expected to save $7 million annually.

In Berkley, the district court boundary change doesn’t happen until 2015 because Judge Jamie Wittenberg is up for re-election next year. The drafters of the pending law decided it “wasn’t fair” for him to have to run in a newer, bigger district, Pappageorge said.

Ken Silfven, spokesman for Gov. Rick Snyder, said the bill regarding the future of the Berkley district court might not be signed into law until next week.

“But please keep in mind that there were over 280 bills passed in lame duck, so there’s a lot for the governor to review because of the sheer volume,” Silfven said in an email.